Mitigate the Manufacturing Risks from Hexavalent Chromium Exposure
If you run a manufacturing facility or any industrial operation, you’re probably aware that hexavalent chromium, or Cr(VI), is an airborne carcinogen regulated by OSHA. But do you know the specific occupational and safety health risks from hex chromates in your key production areas?
Impacted types of manufacturing processes include:
- Metal finishing and welding: Welding stainless steel, nonferrous chromium alloys, or other similar “hot work” often release hex chromates and other toxins.
- Painting and coating: Hexavalent chromium, often found in dye pigments, paints, and inks, is also released from priming, painting, and other surface prep work.
- Metal cutting and grinding/blasting: Laser and plasma cutting, grinding and sanding, and working with stainless steel and other metals can also release hex chromates.
The Health Risks of Hexavalent Chromium
Hexavalent chromium airborne particles can irritate the skin, nose, or even cause stomach ailments. Long-term exposure can lead to asthma, lung cancer, or nasal and sinus cancers. From priming and coating aircraft components to welding and cutting metal fabrications, manufacturing processes can pose significant health risks for employees.
According to OSHA, these health risks include:
- Dangers to the nose and throat: Minor effects may include a runny nose, sneezing, coughing, or itching and burning sensations. Long-term exposure increases the risk for nosebleeds, sores, or even perforations in the nasal septum (wall separating the nasal passages).
- Dangers to the skin: Brief skin contact can cause a red, itchy rash, and repeated skin contact can result in a more severe, longer-lasting dermatitis. Contact with non-intact skin can even lead to chrome ulcers.
- Dangers to the lungs and stomach: While most people do not develop respiratory tract irritations from airborne hexavalent chromium, some employees can become allergic and develop asthma wheezing and shortness of breath. In extreme cases, workers can develop lung cancer or stomach conditions such as gastritis or gastrointestinal ulcers.
Of course, when employees become sick, manufacturing quality suffers. If enough workers miss work due to hexavalent chromium induced illnesses, production can come to a grinding halt. Compromised safety leads to a compromised bottom-line.
The Bottom-Line Risks of Hexavalent Chromium
If enough employees miss work due to hexavalent chromium related illnesses, there are fewer workers to ensure quality control and safety best practices. Just a single accident on the shop floor can cost thousands or even millions of dollars in potential fines and legal fees.
Plus, with skyrocketing healthcare costs, there are even more downstream expenses for each project that stops in midstream due to an illness or injury.
Other bottom-line risks include:
- Reduced productivity: With fewer healthy employees working the shop floor, both quality and productivity suffer.
- Increased downtime: HEPA filters can mitigate some risk, but overhead filters don’t eliminate all hex chromates, and changing filters drain valuable man-hours.
- Greater risk of regulatory fines: Unless you’re in the pesticide industry, OSHA requires all industries to take protective measures to shield their employees from hexavalent chromium exposure, per the Chromium (VI) standard 1910.1026.
Clean Air Solutions for Safeguarding Your Facility
Fortunately, you don’t have to limit your painting and coating, grinding, welding, or metal fabrication operations in order to reduce your hexavalent chromium risks. With Duroair retractable enclosures and industrial clean air systems, manufacturers have cost-effective clean air solutions to mitigate exposure dangers.
Modular industrial air filtration can even increase your facility’s floor space to accommodate large workpieces without disrupting your cellular workflow processes. Plus, Duroair filters surpass NESHAP 319 requirements for hexavalent chromium, ensuring both compliance due diligence and effectively protecting your work environment.
The operational advantages of these Duroair clean air solutions include:
- Easier quality control and oversight of finishing procedures
- Fewer opportunities for project damage due to transport mishaps
- Reduced lead time for transporting pieces offsite
- Fewer project delays due to off-site setbacks
- Lower material handling costs and reduced labor for transporting large pieces to subcontractors
Learn how Duroair can customize a clean air solution to safeguard your valued employees from hexavalent chromium, by combining our portable enclosures with our industrial air filtration systems.
